When I interview a potential employee I always ask the following:
Why are manhole covers round?
Good things I am looking for:
-Someone who doesn’t get flustered.
-Someone who can actually think their way through the question.
-Someone who admits they don’t know the answer, but they will get back to me.
Any of these will score high marks on the question.
Bad responses:
-People who get shaken and start yammering
-Candidates who start blowing smoke, acting authoritative, even when they obviously are tap dancing.
Either one of these two occur and I seriously consider sending their application back to HR with a no thanks.
Then there is the person who obviously saw the question on the internet and blurts out the answer before I can even finish. That gets a neutral mark.
So they can't fall into the hole. But I come from an engineering background and the solution is obvious to me.
I used to ask these interview questions:
1. What is the most unethical thing you have witness or been a part of in either college or your profession?
2. What is the most important thing you have learned?
3. What is the most important mistake you have ever made? Why?
So they don’t fall in the holes.
“Why are manhole covers round?”
EZ. The longest distance on a square hole is the diagonal which is about 1.4 times the width of the square manhole cover.
Therefore....the square manhole would indeed fall into the hole.
QED
Good answer: What the hell does the shape of the manhole cover have to do with the job I am to perform? Oh, by the way, Mr Interviewer, do you know what cliches are and what 'received wisdom' is? So long Louie... etc.
Every 18 month old knows a square doesn't fit a circle. The pat answer is so they don't fall in. Of course, no matter what shape they were, if the the cover is too small then someone is going to have to climb down and get it.
Why are manhole covers round?
Because manholes are round.
It always prepares to be ready for an interview, I got a new job two weeks ago by having a "brag book" of my work ready in all the areas that the company was looking for and making a kick ass visual resume. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
There is a flipside to that. I have been asked those questions, and I determined at that moment that I didn’t need the job badly enough to do the tap dance. One time I answered with a blunt “I don’t know” and said nothing else. There was a bit of awkward silence, and then the interviewer moved on.
Why are manhole covers round? So they cannot fall through the rimmed hole and kill workers below.